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Written By: Agencies | Published : November 29, 2014 5:28 PM IST
Beijing, Nov 28: According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China has more than 300 million smokers and another 740 million people are exposed to second-hand smoke each year. With an aim to raise awareness about ill effects of smoking, Microsoft founder Bill Gates launched an anti-smoking campaign in China. As a part of the campaign, an anti-smoking music video has been broadcasted, which featured Gates in the video.
Gates appears in the video wearing a T-shirt bearing the words of the song title. After the video got shared, the campaign received more than 40 million hits on microblog and tens of thousands of people voiced their support for the initiative in its first two weeks, Yang Jianyue, deputy director of the Gates Foundation in China, said. Feng Zhe, a gold medalist on the parallel bars in the 2012 Olympic Games, released his song 'Say No to Forced Smoking', state-run China Daily reported. (Read: Health benefits of quitting smoking)
The song is the latest initiative in a social media campaign that began in October. The foundation has joined with social media and philanthropic partners in calling on netizens to submit witty sayings against second-hand smoke. 'That's why tobacco control needs social media where you can have other people talking for you and becoming part of the solution,'?Angela Pratt of the WHO Tobacco Free Initiative in China said. (Read: Quit smoking or die!)
'Smoking is not cool, while smoking control can be cool and dynamic,' Pratt said. The UN health body in China will broadcast anti-smoking videos submitted by contestants from both China and the United States through online outlets including its own Sina Weibo account next week, she said. Last year, President Xi Jinping met with Gates at the annual Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan province. Xi said China would deepen its cooperation with the foundation, especially in HIV/AIDS prevention and control, smoking control and tuberculosis intervention. (Read: 10 ads that will inspire you to quit smoking)
Source: PTI
Photo source: Getty images
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